Op-Ed: Frightened little women - false rape news, and a retrospective

The crime of rape is often used as a battering ram by the loony feminists against men, but when the allegations made are demonstrably false, the same people are strangely silent. Here is the other side of the coin.

This begs the question how do they know? Well, because “In a survey of victims who did not report rape or attempted rape to the police, the following was found as to why no report was made: 43% thought nothing could be done, 27% felt it was a private matter, 12% were afraid of police response, and 12% felt it was not important enough.”

This presupposes that all these “victims” were actually victims and not fantasists or simply lying little tarts. Can 12% of “victims” really be afraid of the police response? Can another 12% really believe a rape is not important enough to report?

While undoubtedly some rapes do go unreported, no one knows exactly how many there are. One suspects that very few stranger rapes go unreported, especially the man in the park wearing a balaclava who holds a knife to a woman's throat.

The saga of rape is one that has of course caused much mendacious ink to flow, none more so that the book its modest author describes as a classic, Against Our Will. Published in 1975, rape is, says Susan Brownmiller “a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear”.

All men? How about Peter Tatchell, Elton John, and apparently at least one member of the cast of every British soap opera that just has to have its own gay? How can people make such ludicrous claims? Obviously she must be gagging for it.

Though Brownmiller's book was published 36 years ago, its spirit of dishonesty lives on, and for many men on the receiving end of such false allegations, the consequences can be disastrous, unlike for the unsuspecting males who published her ravings, and made a fat profit out of it.

On Monday, the Guardianreported a rare case of a woman being gaoled for a baseless rape allegation.

The very blonde twenty year old Keeley Horrocks was given two years at Her Majesty's Pleasure after pleading guilty at Bolton Crown Court to perverting the course of justice. The man she accused was old enough to be her grandfather, although they were said to have been in a consensual relationship.

Two for the price of one from Down Under; one day a 15 year old girl is found to have “cried wolf” and the very next day a 65 year old woman is charged with filing a false report. Though this woman is of course innocent of any criminal offence until proven guilty, it is clear that no crime actually happened.

Right up to the minute, Joseph Melendez of Cleveland has been awarded $1.5 million damages against a couple who concocted a false rape allegation against him, apparently for motives relating to their own criminal conduct; as his attorney pointed out, while his client faced up to 20 years for rape and abduction, his accusers are looking at a maximum of two years apiece.

Four false allegations in three days from three Continents, when the victims are us “little people” - where an individual is named - there is generally not much publicity; it is only when a celebrity or some such person is involved that we see the ugly details. In 1995, the actor Craig Charles and another man were cleared of rape, but only after Craig had spent time in gaol and been attacked with a knife by someone obviously intent on making a name for himself. After his acquittal, he spoke out bitterly. Fortunately, some people realise there is never smoke without smoke, and his career was unaffected, if that is one considers Coronation Street to be a step up from Red Dwarf!

A happy looking Craig Charles, one of many well known faces to have been accused baselessly of rape.

Public domain

Three other well-known names to have been accused falsely are singer-songwriter Mick Hucknall of Simply Red; the TV presenter John Leslie; and former boxer Mike Tyson. The allegation against Tyson was particularly despicable because in 1992, acknowledged wife-beater Tyson was (rightly) convicted of the rape of Desiree Washington, and served hard time for it.

While some people might like to see Tyson behind bars, the courts have deemed that he has paid his debt to society, and this false allegation could have in effect finished him, because had it been upheld, as a convicted rapist, Tyson would have been looking at a very much longer sentence than Joe Sixpack. The allegation against Mick Hucknall, from 11 years ago, was quickly disproved, but the allegation against John Leslie had a rather unusual history.

In her autobiography, Ulrika Jonsson claimed to have been raped many years earlier by an unnamed TV presenter. This was back in 2002, and nothing would have come of it had not the name John Leslie been blurted out accidentally by Matthew Wright on live TV. This led to an avalanche of allegations against Leslie, some of them dating back to the 1990s, including one from 1995 that materialised only in 2008. Leslie had some strong words about this particular allegation and his treatment by the media. After being released on police bail, he spoke out bitterly. Three years later he is still a free man, but of course in some people's eyes he will always be an alleged rapist or worse.

John Leslie is a big man, but like so many big men he was reduced virtually to a nervous wreck by the baseless allegations of frightened little women, who are just about the most dangerous not to say the most perfidious creatures on the face of this planet. A hardened police officer who comes face to face with a frightened little woman will often lose all sense of objectivity. This may have been what happened in the case of Roy Burnett. As a young man, Burnett had a number of run-ins with the law, including a conviction for indecent assault, but he was considerably older when he was accused and convicted of raping a student nurse. He was given a life sentence in 1986. In 1998, the same “victim” who had relocated to a different part of the country made another false allegation, and this led to his conviction being re-examined. For once, both the police and the legal establishment appear to have moved both with commendable speed and to have acted with integrity. Mr Burnett's conviction was quashed, and he was allowed to pick up what remained of his life.

In spite of all the above, there are those pandering to both political correctness and the loony feminist lobby who think the boot is on the other foot. Take this exchange in Parliament last year between Call Me Dave and Harriet Harperson:

“Can the Prime Minister give me an answer on another important issue-one that I raised with him last Tuesday-about prosecuting rape? We know that it is often only after many rapes that a defendant is finally brought to court, and it is often only at that point that previous victims find the courage to come forward. By making rape defendants anonymous, he is going to make it harder to bring rapists to justice.”

The Prime Minister: “I know that the right hon. and learned Lady cares very deeply about this issue, as do I. The fact that rape convictions are so low in this country is a scandal, and we need to improve on that. That means working with the police, and also doing more to help rape victims, including backing rape crisis centres.”

As a QC - rather than a mere lawyer - Miss Harman should realise that rape is not prosecuted - alleged rape is prosecuted.

Yeah, that's right, the conviction rate for rape is too low. Perhaps we should amend the law so people can be convicted without evidence. Perhaps we should ask Craig Charles, Mick Hucknall and John Leslie what they think? Pillock.

There is one other type of false allegation that should be mentioned, that of the delusional individual. David Icke knows all about this, or at least his lawyers do. Women and sometimes men, can make allegations not only about rape but about all manner of crimes including murder that are totally sincere in their own eyes, but which do not stand up to the slightest critical examination. In 1989, Oprah Winfrey interviewed a young woman who claimed to have taken part in ritual murder and all manner of absurdities. Because “Rachel” was Jewish, the crazies had a field day, and the ADL ad nauseum screamed about how this was perpetuating anti-Semitic canards, etc, and of course, it would be impossible for Jews to commit any such crimes. But not blacks, apparently, there has been at least one thoroughly documented case of such ritual murder in London this Century. That being said, the claims Rachel made were so far off the scale that alarm bells should have sounded before Oprah took her anywhere near the studio.

The big problem for ordinary false rape allegations though is that generally they are not wild and unbelievable; often they are extremely plausible and may come down to she said/he said. Anyone who doubts this should check out Alison King, the actress who plays Carla Connor in Coronation Street, or Jodie Foster in The Accused. Watch a few clips such as these, then ask yourself this question: If I did not realise this was mere acting, would I know it was not for real?

So what is to be done? In an ideal world nothing would be need to be done, because in an ideal world men would not rape women, and no woman would ever falsely accuse any man. Until then, we will have to live with both lechers and liars, but we should not lose our critical faculties in the meantime.

This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com